Listen to a few self-improvement gurus, making it tempting to think that napping is a secret weapon: rather than a quick fix following restless night, but a path towards improved recall, a brighter outlook and perhaps a faster 5k run time. Professional footballers do it regularly – as do professional piano players, mixed martial artists and media moguls. However, if you lack a room for napping or a career that allows daytime sleep, can there *honestly* enough benefits to a quick nap for it to be worth the hassle? Is there a surefire technique to fall asleep fast? And can you honestly promise you’ll wake up feeling better, rather than worse?
Exploring The Drive to Snooze
“There are three main reasons for napping among most adults,” explains a leading sleep and circadian science researcher. “Firstly, there's what we call make-up sleep, that is what happens when you’ve had insufficient sleep the previous night. Another is pre-emptive sleep, which involves anticipating sleep loss ahead, for instance if you’re working overnight shifts. Finally, there's “hedonic napping”, which essentially comes down to wanting: you have a chance to nap in the afternoon, and it's pleasant to indulge.”
The primary task to undertake, so, is to think about why you want to nap. “Naps can be truly beneficial when nighttime sleep gets interrupted for reasons outside your control – for example, if you’re a parent of a newborn, or recovering after being ill or intense exercise,” states a sleep expert. “However, if you’re napping as your night sleep is unstable or poor, that is frequently a sign your body's sleep pressure is not at the level it needs to be. Under those circumstances, naps can become part of the problem, instead of the fix. Utilize daytime sleep for brief periods to address immediate needs – the priority ought to remain a solid and consistent overnight rest.”
The Ideal Snooze Time
This implies that napping must not be long enough to affect your sleep at night, and ideally should not occur post-3 p.m. (depending on what time you sleep in the evening). What duration is wise? Advice differs. Among the most-cited studies about napping, researchers at Nasa noted that space travelers showed up to a 54% increase in vigilance and a 34% increase in performance after a 26-minute nap (in detail, this counted a six-minute long falling asleep phase). “I’d suggest using an alarm for 20-30 minutes – most people fall asleep in under ten minutes,” notes a specialist. “There is plenty of guidance out there about the optimal amount of time, but that tends to lead individuals to become more anxious than anything – and the worst thing you can possibly do when attempting to fall asleep is to be anxious.”
If you plan to take an extended nap, avoid the 45 to 60 minute range that encourages sleep grogginess, that foggy state upon waking. “The science suggests it is preferable to take an extended nap lasting 60-90 minutes compared to a medium-length nap,” notes the expert. “Three-quarters of an hour is sufficient to plunge you into slow-wave sleep and you’re more likely to feel sluggish when you wake up – whereas if you extend it a bit longer to 60 or 90 minutes, you will probably to finish of a sleep cycle and are likely to wake up feeling more refreshed. But if you nap for an hour and a half, it will affect the quality of your sleep in the evening.”
Establishing an Ideal Snooze Setting
As for precise methods, advice differs. Some experts recommend using comparable habits you’d use to encourage a good night’s sleep: a quiet room, a comfortable bed and minimal light as you can manage. Alternatively, experts propose that you should simply nap on the sofa with ambient lighting is available – to prevent that groggy feeling and to preserve your sleeping quarters as the space your mind associates with proper sleep. “Sleep is notoriously difficult to will,” explains a specialist. “Lacking any drowsiness, it becomes harder to get comfortable and basically command yourself to fall asleep. There’s got to be some sleep pressure there to start the process in the first place. For me, it's possible to take a nap in broad daylight and naturally wake up alarm-free, however, what assists a lot of people is to look for an instance that they’re naturally feeling a bit drowsy and then simply relax into it.”
Experimentation is key, and if options are scarce – such as, if attempting to squeeze in a quick nap during a commute or at the office – it is perfectly fine with bringing sleep aids. “In my work with elite athletes, I suggest that they don’t get used to napping in bed, because they’re going to have|they will